SANTA CLARA — Coach Jim Tomsula’s search for the 49ers’ next offensive coordinator could include surprising options: former NFL head coaches Lane Kiffin and Mike Shanahan.

Kiffin, a league source indicated, might consider returning to the NFL, having coached the Raiders in 2007 before getting fired four games into 2008. He served this season as the University of Alabama’s offensive coordinator, and he was the head coach at Tennessee in 2009 and USC from 2010-13.

Shanahan is “still in play” for the offensive coordinator role he held 20 years ago, on the 49ers’ last Super Bowl-winning team, according to a Friday report by NBC4 Washington.

Tomsula declined Thursday to reveal any coordinator candidates after his introduction as head coach, and he had not announced any staff changes 48 hours into his promotion.

But Tomsula has been busy trying to restock the 49ers’ staff. On Friday, he interviewed Jason Tarver, a 49ers assistant from 2001-10 and the Raiders defensive coordinator the past three seasons.

The 49ers do need a new defensive coordinator after releasing Vic Fangio from his contract. Fangio will interview for a similar role with Washington and possibly the Chicago Bears and Atlanta Falcons, a league source said.

Special teams coordinator Brad Seely also won’t be returning to the 49ers, Comcast SportsNet Bay Area reported.

Picking an offensive coordinator to replace Greg Roman is of utmost importance, and an in-house option is Geep Chryst, the 49ers’ quarterbacks coach since 2011.

Kiffin, 39, went 4-12 his first season with the Raiders and got replaced by Tom Cable after a 1-3 start in 2008. After Kiffin’s stops at Tennessee and USC, he rehabilitated his image as an offensive savant during this season’s stint with Alabama, which suffered a Sugar Bowl loss to eventual national champion Ohio State.

Another potential target for the 49ers is Rob Chudzinski, currently an Indianapolis Colts special assistant and the 2013 Cleveland Browns head coach.

Tomsula wouldn’t be able to meet with Chudzinski until at least Monday, because the Colts are in Sunday’s AFC Championship game. When refraining to name coordinator candidates, one reason Tomsula cited was the potential of “tampering,” as would be the case with Chudzinski.

“If there’s somebody that’s doing something really interesting (and) you know that’s it, but it’s tampering, so you don’t want to do that,” Tomsula said. “So you have to wait, and that’s just right. But then if there’s somebody else you can get right now, what do you do there? Do you hedge your bet?”

With Chudzinski’s credentials, it’s worth looking beyond his 4-12 season as the Browns coach in 2013. His background includes serving as the University of Miami’s offensive coordinator during Frank Gore’s freshman through junior seasons. Chudzinski was also the Carolina Panthers’ offensive coordinator when Cam Newton debuted in 2011 as a successful dual-threat quarterback, which could translate well to Colin Kaepernick.

Shanahan, 62, interviewed two weeks ago with the 49ers brass, who eventually elected to promote Tomsula to head coach on Wednesday. Shanahan’s son, Kyle, turned down the 49ers offer to interview for the offensive coordinator role, NBC4 Washington reported.

Mike Shanahan did not coach in 2014, fired after his fourth season in Washington, which produced a 3-13 record but also a 1,275-yard rusher in Alfred Morris. Shanahan’s history of quality rushing attacks, and his work with a healthy Robert Griffin III in 2012, could match the 49ers’ desires.

Shanahan isn’t the only former 49ers offensive coordinator who might be a candidate. Marc Trestman, Shanahan’s successor for the 1995-96 seasons and recently fired as Chicago Bears head coach, is available, though he’s also drawn interest from the Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Raiders.

Whoever is the coordinator, there will be a renewed emphasis on the rushing attack. But there’s also the need to further groom Kaepernick, and how do you best do that?

“You start by hiring Jeff Garcia as his quarterback coach,” Garcia, the former 49ers quarterback, himself responded Friday on 49ers flagship station KNBR 680-AM. “And then we dig down deep through his film and watch how he’s played. We go through the process of decision making, his speed in the pocket, how he gets the ball out, what he sees from the defense.”

The 49ers offense struggled last season while trying to force Kaepernick to attempt boundary passes. That strategy backfired.

“Their focus was to continue to run the football and look for (passing) combinations on the perimeter to give us advantages,” general manager Trent Baalke said Thursday.

Baalke’s hand-picked talent and Jim Harbaugh’s coaching staff produced a top-10 rushing attack each of the past four seasons: 8th in 2011 (127.8 yards per game), fourth in 2012 (155.7 ypg), third in 2013 (137.6 ypg) and fourth in 2014 (136.0 ypg).

For more on the 49ers, see Cam Inman’s Hot Read blog at blogs.mercurynews.cm/49ers. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/CamInman.